Priroda (TsM-I, 77KSI, 11F77I)

Priroda

Priroda was the last of the scheduled five Russian modules of the Mir space station complex and was launched from the Baykonur cosmodrome by a Proton-K rocket to dock after 3 days rather than the usual 9 days. The launch itself was 3 days earlier than the planned date in order to facilitate an American microbiology program.

Priroda carried several remote sensing Russian instruments. Other cargo on board included 900 kg of American equipment to be delivered to the American astronaut on Mir.

It was for a while considered, that Priroda might later be attached to the planned international space station ISS. But evantually Priroda remained with the Mir-Complex until deorbiting.

The remote sensing instrument suite of Priroda consisted of:

• Alissa lidar - measured cloud height, structure, optical properties. 150 m vertical resolution, 1 km horizontal resolution
• Centaur 400 MHz receiver - used to gather ocean buoy data
• DOPI interferometer - studies gases and aerosols. 2.4-20 micrometer
• Greben ocean altimeter - 10 cm resolution, 13.76 GHz, 2.5 km swath, nadir viewing
• Ikar D scanning microwave radiometer system - scanned 40 deg off track with a 400 km swath. 4.0, 0.3, 0.8, 1.35 micrometer wavelengths, resolution up to 5 km and 0.15 deg. K
• Ikar N nadir microwave radiometers - 0.3, 0.8, 1.35, 2.25 6.0 micrometer wavelengths, resolution up to 60 km and 0.15 deg. K
• Ikar P panoramic microwave radiometers - 2.25, 6.0 micrometer wavelengths, 750 km swath, resolution up to 75 km and 0.15 deg. K
• Istok 1 IR spectroradiometer - wavelengths between 4.0-16.0 micrometer, 7 km swath, 0.7 × 2.8 km resolution
• MOS-Obzor spectrometer - measured aerosol profile and ocean reflectance. 17 channels between 0.750-1.01 micrometer, 80 km swath, 700 m resolution
• MOMS 02P Earth imager - 4 channels between 0.440-0.810 micrometer. Multi spectral, stereo or high resolution data, 6 km resolution. German instrument, initially flown aboard Spacelab D2 on Shuttle.
• MSU-E2 high resolution optical scanner - 10 m resolution, 3 channels between 0.5 and 0.9 micrometer, nadir viewing, 2 × 24.5 km swaths
• Ozon M spectrometer - used for ozone/aerosol profiles. 160 channels between 0.257-1.155 micrometer, 1 km altitude resolution
• Travers Synthetic Aperture Radar - 1.28/3.28 GHz, 50 km swath, 38 deg. look angle, 50 m resolution

Aditionally, more experiments for other areas of science were carried:

• Ainur electrophoresis unit.
• Korund 1MP semiconductor unit.